Fear not; you didnít swing and miss. Engelsonís opinion piece is scheduled for publication tomorrow on cdapress.com and in the Local section of the print edition. If you have any interest whatsoever in youth sports ó heck, if you donít give a good soccer kick for youth sports but you are concerned about the direction society is headed in general ó please, tune in tomorrow.

Engelson speaks for so many of us who are fed up with the selfish, immature, bratty and grossly irresponsible behavior thatís ruining youth sports for approximately seven out of every 10 children. Did we mention the selfish, immature, bratty and grossly irresponsible behavior is coming from adults?

This is the kind of behavior that used to make shake-your-head-and-sigh videos, rare incidents of out-of-control soccer moms and Little League dads. These days, as Engelson chronicles with national statistics and local examples, being out of control is so commonplace, it often warrants little more than a shoulder shrug.

Meantime, the playing field is literally so toxic, a majority of our kids and grandkids are dropping out of youth sports by the time they reach their teenage years. And thatís a tragedy.

Parentsí ridiculously unrealistic expectations of their kids is a big part of the problem. When ďaverageĒ professionals make more in a year than most mortals make in a lifetime, all that glitter seems like gold that rightfully should end up in momís or popís pocket. After all, Junior is the best player on his Little League team. Surely, the pros will soon be knocking on the door if that dumb coach or incompetent refs donít ruin everything, right?

Wrong. What really needs to happen is that parents must put their kidsí interests first, and that amounts to the things that make youth sports so fulfilling: Learning teamwork, growing through self-discipline, and most of all, having fun. And the best way to minimize unruly parental behavior is to make it so unacceptable that most dimwitted adults wonít dare go ballistic. Consent or indifference only encourage the bad ones.

Youíve got a game tomorrow with Wade Engelson. For the sake of local kids, please donít miss it.

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